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PREAMBLE
- This Global Compact rests on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
- It also rests on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the other core international human rights treaties1; the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; the Slavery Convention and the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery; the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification; the Paris Agreement2; the International Labour Organization conventions on promoting decent work and labour migration3; as well as on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; the Addis Ababa Action Agenda; the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the New Urban Agenda.
- Discussions about international migration at the global level are not new. We recall the advances made through the United Nations High-level Dialogues on International Migration and Development in 2006 and 2013. We also acknowledge the contributions of the Global Forum on Migration and Development launched in 2007. These platforms paved the way for the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, through which we committed to elaborate a Global Compact for Refugees and to adopt this Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, in two separate processes. The two Global Compacts, together, present complementary international cooperation frameworks that fulfil their respective mandates as laid out in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which recognizes that migrants and refugees may face many common challenges and similar vulnerabilities.
- Refugees and migrants are entitled to the same universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, which must be respected, protected and fulfilled at all times. However, migrants and refugees are distinct groups governed by separate legal frameworks. Only refugees are entitled to the specific international protection as defined by international refugee law. This Global Compact refers to migrants and presents a cooperative framework addressing migration in all its dimensions.
- This Global Compact is a milestone in the history of the global dialogue and international cooperation on migration. It is rooted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and informed by the Declaration of the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development adopted in October 2013. It builds on the pioneering work of the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration and Development, including his report of 3 February 2017.
- As a contribution to the preparatory process for this Global Compact, we recognize the inputs shared by Member States and relevant stakeholders during the consultation and stocktaking phases, as well as the report of the Secretary-General, “Making Migration Work for All”.
- This Global Compact presents a non-legally binding, cooperative framework that builds on the commitments agreed upon by Member States in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. It fosters international cooperation among all relevant actors on migration, acknowledging that no State can address migration alone, and upholds the sovereignty of States and their obligations under international law.
Read more at https://www.un.org/pga/72/wp-content.../migration.pdf
Posted by Nolan Rappaport
The only exception would be for Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller, for whom once a day would not be nearly enough but every hour on the hour would be more appropriate.
The passages I am referring to run as follows:
First:
"The Global Compact ensures that the human rights of women, men, girls and boys are respected at all stages of migration, their specific needs are properly understood and addressed and they are empowered as agents of change."
Second:
"The Global Compact promotes existing legal obligations in relation to the rights of the child, and upholds the best interests of the child at all times, as a primary consideration in all situations involving children in the context of international migration, including unaccompanied children and separated children."
The
horrendous, brutal and inhuman treatment of Central American and other non-white children who were separated from their parent and have now been reunited during their period of incarceration, however brief it may have been for some of the fortunate few who are now no longer separated, is reported in the July 15 Washington Post. See:
Immigrant kids held in shelters describe being separated from their parents
Why should these innocent children have been treated with such heartless sadism, even if their parents tried to enter the US contrary to law?
As The Post's article shows, many of these children, although now reunited, may be scarred for life by what they went through in Donald Trump's America - something that this president will have to answer history for as long as America's history continues to be written.
As for the Compact itself, on first glance, it appears as a wonderful goal to strive for in all matters regarding immigration, and Nolan should be thanked and appreciated for bringing it to everyone's attention.
Roger Algase
Attorney at Law